Another calendar year has come and gone and that means that it’s time to review the Top Five Yorkton sports stories of 2014.
There were many great stories in 2014, from the return of the Outlaws of Motorsports monster truck show and revival of the Yorkton Cardinals midget baseball program, to the Yorkton UCT Terriers winning the Saskatchewan Bantam AA Provincial title and SBAAHL title for the first time since 1982 and the Yorkton Terriers triumphing on a Derek Falloon overtime goal to beat the Carleton Place Canadians 4-3 in overtime to win their first ever Royal Bank Cup national title in Vernon, BC.
But while many certainly have merit, unfortunately there are only five spots available in the top five and after hours and hours of poring over the facts, stats and articles, the list has finally be comprised.
1. Terriers win Royal Bank Cup
The 2013/14 SJHL season started out with the Terriers celebrating their fifth SJHL championship with yet another banner raising ceremony at the Farrell Agencies Arena.
Then, led by twin blueliners Brady and Chase Norrish (Strongfield, SK) as well as fellow defenceman and Terrier captain Devon McMullen (Moosomin, SK) and forward Tayler Thompson (Bredenbury, SK), the Terriers went off, marching to a 19-6-1-3 as of December 11, 2013, when they made what proved to be a key trade, sending Dalton Menke to the Flin Flon Bombers in exchange for the offensively gifted Brett Boehm (Martensville, SK).
Boehm then went on a tear, leading the Terriers in scoring for the rest of the season, picking up 21 goals and 22 assists for 43 points in 27 games as a Terrier.
But while Boehm put up amazing numbers in his half season in Yorkton, Thompson was the one that led the team in scoring with 23 goals and 38 assists for 61 points in 52 games while starting goaltender and homegrown hero Kale Thomson (Yorkton, SK) put up some of the best numbers in SJHL history going 31-11-3 with a 1.89 goals against average and a .934 save percentage.
Thomson’s eight shutouts also set a new league record as the team itself finished atop the SJHL regular season standings with a sparkling 37-12-2-5 record while boasting the most goals for (186) and least goals against 125).
The Terriers carried their SJHL domination into the playoffs, ousting the Notre Dame Hounds in the first round four-games-to-one before dropping the Humboldt Broncos in the semi-finals with yet another four-games-to-one series victory.
The win propelled the Terriers to the SJHL final where they met their Highway 10 rivals, the Melville Millionaires, in what was the first-ever SJHL final meeting between the two clubs.
On paper it looked as if the Terriers would walk away with it. On the ice they did, sweeping the Millionaires four-games-to-none to win their sixth SJHL title and second in a row, sending them to Dauphin, Manitoba, to take part in the Western Canada Cup (WCC).
Yorkton didn’t get off to a good start in Dauphin, falling 3-1 to the MJHL champion Winnipeg Blues. However they rebounded to drop the host Dauphin Kings 8-6 before once again faltering, this time in the form of a 3-2 overtime loss to the AJHL’s Spruce Grove Saints.
That set up a must-win game for the Terriers against the BCHL champion Coquitlam Express. Yorkton came out of the gates firing on all cylinders and proved to be too much for the BCHL title holders, derailing the Express 4-1 to send them straight through to the WCC final where they once again downed the host Kings, this time 5-4, to win the WCC trophy and send them to their fifth-ever Royal Bank Cup tournament, this time in Vernon, BC.
Much like the Western Canada Cup tournament, the Royal Bank Cup tournament also started off badly for the Terriers as they fell to the Dudley Hewitt Cup champion Toronto Lakeshore Patriots (OJHL) 5-1.
Things didn’t get better for the Terriers in their second game of the tournament as they lost once again, this time 6-4 to the host Vernon Vipers (BCHL), to give them a 0-2 record thru two games, meaning every game forward was a must-win match up.
However it seemed as if the 2013/14 Yorkton Terriers thrived on pressure as they took each and every must-win game, downing the Carleton Place Canadians (CCHL) 3-1 in their third game before once again defeating their WCC rivals the Dauphin Kings (MJHL) 2-1 in overtime to advance to the playoff round where they took on the host Vipers.
Historically Vernon had the Terriers’ number, beating them in four of their previous five meetings at the national championship level. However the semi-final game saw the Terriers score first and last to silence the home crowed en route to a 6-3 win and a spot in the Royal Bank Cup final.
Their opponents in the final were the Carleton Place Canadians, who had previously defeated the Dauphin Kings 5-3.
The Fred Page Cup champions opened the scoring midway through the first period on an Anthony McVeigh marker, however Daylan Gatzke brought the Terriers even when his shot eluded Canadians netminder Guillaume Therrien.
The second period saw the CCHL champion regain its lead on a Stephen Baylis goal just over four minutes into the period.
Carleton Place star forward Andy Sturtz made it 3-1 for the Canadians midway at the middle mark of the second period to give the CCHL club a two goal lead heading into the third period.
The two goal lead looked as if it would hold up throughout the third period as Yorkton peppered Therrien in net but just could not beat the talented netminder.
Then it happened. With just under three minutes remaining in the game low scoring defenceman Tanner Lischynsky, who was re-assigned to Yorkton by the WHL’s Prince George Cougars earlier in the year, flew into the slot and hammered the puck past Therrien to cut the Canadian lead in half.
Eight seconds later a fortunate bounce found the stick of hulking Terrier forward Dylan Johnson, who batted the puck past Therrien to tie the game at three and send it into overtime.
With momentum on their side it was only a matter of time before the Terriers once again beat Therrien, and with five minutes remaining in the first overtime they did when Russell, Manitoba’s Derek Falloon scored the biggest goal in franchise history as he just barely pushed the puck over the goal-line for a 4-3 overtime win in the Royal Bank Cup final.
The result: The Yorkton Terriers won their first-ever Royal Bank Cup championship and were officially crowned the best Junior ‘A’ team in the country in the year of 2014.
2. Steve Laycock represents at Canadian Open
The number two story in 2014 snuck into the list very late in the year and the reason it ranks so high is because of the success that a local man had at it.
The 2014 Canadian Open, the third stop on the Grand Slam of Curling tour, took place at Yorkton’s Farrell Agencies Arena from December 9-14 and boasted the world’s best curlers of both gender including Yorkton’s own Steve Laycock.
Laycock,now playing out of Saskatoon, was most definitely an underdog throughout the Grand Slam of Curling despite coming into the tournament after two strong performances at the Masters and The National where he finished at the top of his group each time before being eliminated in the quarterfinals by Mike McEwen both times.
Laycock also rode a wave of momentum into the Canadian Open after winning his first World Curling Tour event this season in Estevan, where his rink took home 10-grand in prize money by winning the Weatherford Curling Classic.
Things started off well for Laycock as he downed 2014 Olympic bronze medalist Niklas Edin (Sweden) 8-5 in his first game of the tournament.
The first-round win set Laycock up with rival McEwen, however the Manitoba rink proved to be too much in an 8-3 Laycock defeat that sent the local man down to the ‘B’ side.
But the drop to the ‘B’ side, instead of discouraging him, made him even hungrier resulting in back-to-back wins, 6-4 over four-time World Curling champion Glenn Howard and 6-4 over two-time Grand Slam winner John Epping.
The two wins sent Laycock, as well as lead Dallan Muyres, second Colton Flasch and third Kirk Muyres, to the quarterfinals where they downed British Columbia’s Jim Cotter 6-5 in extra ends.
The win vaulted the Laycock rink to the semi-finals where they took on one of the youngest and most talented teams in curling today, Brendan Bottcher and company.
Fatigue seemed to creep in at times, however Laycock stood strong and his skill, combined with the support from the hometown crowd, led him to a 6-5 derailing of the Bottcher Express and a spot in the final against former Olympic champion Brad Gushue.
It seemed as if Laycock was about to make history, outplaying the former Olympic gold medalist for the entire game, however one small mistake in the final end gave Gushue a chance for victory; a chance he didn’t pass up on as he drew for two to defeat the Yorkton curler 6-5.
However the outstanding performance of Yorkton’s own Steve Laycock at the 2014 Canadian Open in Yorkton still takes home the runner up spot in the list of the Top Five sports stories of 2014.
3. Bieber, Bymak represent Canada
It’s not too often that one athlete from a city represents Canada internationally.
It’s even more rare that a pair of athletes, from the same team no less, get the opportunity to represent Canada on the international stage.
But that’s exactly what a pair of baseball players from the Yorkton Midget ‘AA’ Cardinals did in August of 2014 as members of Team Canada (Regina Angels).
Both Jordan Bieber, a second year pitcher/infielder with the Cardinals and first year pitcher/utility player Caleb Bymak were picked up by the Regina Angels for the 2014 Canadian Senior Little League qualifier in Victoriaville, Quebec, where they played a direct role in the Angels winning the tournament and earning a spot at the SLL World Series in Bangor, Maine.
In fact it was Bieber that picked up the game-winning hit in the final of the Canadian championship against Whalley, B.C., when he slapped the ball down the line to cash in the winning run.
A few days later in Bangor, Maine, the two Yorkton boys once again led Regina, now Team Canada, to victory as Bieber tossed 7.1 scoreless innings in relief for the win while Bymak’s single in the bottom of the 13th ended up being the game-winning hit as he drove in the winning run to give Canada a 6-5 victory over Asia-Pacific Saipan (Canada’s lone win of the tournament).
Because of their impressive debuts on the world stage for Team Canada, Jordan Bieber and Caleb Bymak earn the third spot in the Top Five Sports Stories of 2014.
4. Kais breaks 29-year-old record
The story that takes the fourth spot in the 2014 Top Five countdown is one that would most likely be the top story in many other communities as it involves a local athlete running (literally) through a 29-year-old league record.
Zach Kais, the starting running back for the YRHS Raiders senior football team for the past three seasons, is not the biggest guy in the world.
But boy, does he play like it. The diminutive running back ran for a career high 1,128 yards in 2014 to become just the eighth running back in Moose Jaw High School Football League (MJHSFL) history to eclipse the 1,000 yard mark.
However not only did Kais surpass 1,000 yards in a season in 2014, he also ended up snapping a 29-year-old MJHSFL career rushing record previously set at the end of the 1985 season by former Saskatoon Hilltop Shaun Ashmeade.
Kais’ total of 2,585 yards over three-plus seasons was 39 yards more than Ashmeade’s total of 2,546 yards over three years at Moose Jaw’s Riverview Collegiate Institute to make Kais the MJHSFL all-time leading rusher; a mark that will most likely stand for longer than 29 years and because of that, Kais’ record breaking 2014 season ranks fourth overall in the Top Five of 2014 list.
5. Hot Corner ‘City of Hockey Champions’
It’s very uncommon for a column article to make the list of the Top Five stories.
However that’s exactly what the May 21, 2014, edition of ‘The Hot Corner’ has done. The reason: it recapped just how successful Yorkton was in the 2013/14 hockey season from Atom through to the SJHL.
The 2013/14 season saw Yorkton dominate at every level, with the Atom ‘AA’ Terriers, Sherring Gold Peewee ‘AA’ Terriers, UCT Bantam ‘AA’ Terriers and SJHL Yorkton Terriers all bringing home league titles.
Provincial championships were also captured by Yorkton teams in the 2013/14 season. In fact five of them were claimed by Yorkton teams with the Bantam ‘A’ Terriers and Midget ‘A’ Terriers taking down Provincial titles alongside the Sherring Gold Terriers (Peewee ‘AA’), UCT Terriers (Bantam ‘AA’) and SJHL Terriers.
The SJHL’s Yorkton Terriers, as mentioned in this year’s number one sports story, also brought two more trophies, the Western Canada Cup (Western Canada’s top team) and the Royal Bank Cup (Junior ‘A’ National championship) to add even more proof to the fact that Yorkton is the City of Hockey Champions.
In total, 14 titles from regular season through to playoffs, Provincials and Nationals were brought to the City of Yorkton throughout the 2013/14 hockey season, which is why the May 21 edition of ‘The Hot Corner’ takes fifth place overall in 2014.
